Alice Barnes opened the season in impressive fashion today when she sprinted to second place in the first edition of the Vuelta CV Féminas in Valencia, Spain. The British rider arrived to the bunch sprint finish after a hectic final, to be beaten only by Lotte Kopecky (Lotto Soudal Ladies).

“I’m quite happy with that,” said Barnes after the finish. “The race was fast-paced right from the start. The girls brought Tiff (Cromwell) and I up to the front for the last city circuit. I went into the last corner too far back, but I was really happy with my sprint. Lotte was in a better position and too fast to overtake.”

The UCI 1.2 race was the first for the team for the 2019 season but it also saw three newcomers debut: Hannah Ludwig, Ella Harris and Rotem Gafinovitz.

“I think the all the riders did an awesome job, perhaps even better than expected,” commented Tiffany Cromwell. “For sure the younger girls still have plenty to learn but they were all active during different parts of the race, listened well, and followed through with my directions. It’s a very positive start to the season and we’ll see our younger riders grow more with every race.”

Ludwig was pleased with her first race in the elite women’s category. “I was really happy with my first race for the team. Only in the final 2km it didn’t go as well as we expected when we lost each other but fortunately Alice still did great,” said Ludwig.

“Usually I’m quite nervous and I would never go so deep or risk so much if I raced for myself, but because I was working for the others I could challenge myself a lot more. I’m actually quite surprised and happy with that.”

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